A Promise That Is Never Kept
by TicklishOstrich
Summary: Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Angelica are teenagers - ready to go on adventures and get through life in this reimagining of their lives.


**This Rugrats Reimagine Spot was originally asked of by ninjamonkeybutt. I placed a makeshift chapter and got excellent review/PM. Special thanks to vinzgirl who believes i should continue. Here we are. It is all the episodes of _Rugrats, Pre-School Daze_ and _All Grown Up_ ; plus the specials and movies. As a helpful little reminder, _Rugrats_ started with 5 main kids. Lil and Phil Deville are the twins, born March 31st. Chuckie is the little redhead with glasses, born April 15th. Angelica is the blonde brat, born May 12th. Finally, Tommy is the bald-headed adventurer, born June 11th. The series has been updated, though there isn't really a set year for this to take place. Just think about it as sometime in the 2000s. I don't own any characters minus a few I may name in certain chapters. The kids are a lot older here than they were in the series. This is rated T for language. Enjoy.**

The blue-haired birthday boy sits on the lid of the white toilet, fidgeting in his jet-black costume. He's resting in black skinny pants tucked into plain black combat boots. He's wearing a black T-shirt and the reflective shades rest on his head. The accompanying long leather jacket rests on the bathtub beside him. Not for the first time, he thinks about whether he was right to hold a Hollywood barbeque party. Spike, his dog walks in.

Tommy clicks his tongue when he sees him. Spike is still pretty young. He wags his tail and comes over to sit at his boy's feet. Tommy scratches his ears with a chuckle when the dog immediately leans in to the touch. After a few minutes, Tommy is sitting in the floor. His back leans against the bathtub and he's scratching Spike's belly. Someone then walks by the ajar door with a knowingly smile on his face.

"Hold on there, little fella!" As he walks in, Spike jumps to his feet and runs out. "This is no place for you!"

"Hey, Grandpa. Just… I don't know."

He chuckles. "Yeah, I know the feeling. Now, c'mon. Guests are already in the backyard."

"Phil and Lil?" Tommy guesses.

Grandpa laughs again. "Yep, You got your neighbors all here."

Tommy rolls his eyes. No one lives across the street, and the house to the left doesn't like people. He has a mean guard dog that Tommy's always been scared of. He follows Grandpa downstairs. They pass his dad, Stu, in the living room. It looks like he's adjusting the vacuum cleaner. They also pass his mom Didi and neighbor Howard in the kitchen. They're at the stove, cooking together. As they push through the patio door, Grandpa goes and sits at the picnic table where he's playing checkers against Howard's wife Betty.

He looks over at his friends. One of the twins is wearing a dark trenchcoat, but with a button-down shirt. He's got on cut off black gloves and his hair is mussed. Plus, there's an outline of an iron mark imprinted across his face. He's drinking a can of coke, sitting on the small brick wall that surrounds the right side of the patio. His sister is standing by a tree in the backyard, listening to music on her mp3 player. She's wearing a white collarless shirt, a black sheer blouse over it, a front-snap mini skirt, pale over-the-knee socks, and white Mary Jane block heel pump shoes.

Tommy walks up to Phil first, who holds out another can. "Thanks, Phil."

"Happy birthday, ya filthy animal."

The two laugh shortly over the memorable line shared in _Home Alone_. Tommy can't help but let his eyes wander back to Lil. Phil laughs a bit, shaking him from his thoughts.

"She was gonna wear this huge fuzzy white thing around her neck…"

"A boa?"

Phil raises an eyebrow playfully. "You know this, how?"

Tommy shoves his friend and walks over to the tree. "Hey, Lil. You made it."

"As if." She scoffs.

Her attitude drops immediately, as she runs over to give Tommy a hug. He looks down and sees she's wearing tennis shoes.

"Cher wore Skechers?"

" _This_ Cher does." She laughs, pulling out her headphones.

"What're you listening to?"

Instead of answering, Lil holds out and earbud. The two listen to The Muffs' _Kids in America_. Inside, the doorbell rings. Stu answers it, welcoming Chas and Chuckie. Chuckie is wearing skinny jeans, cowboy boots, a belt with a Texas buckle and a holster, a yellow plaid long-sleeved tee under a cow-print vest, a red bandana around his neck, and a brown cowboy hat.

"Hey, it's JR!"

The fifteen-year-old smiles politely. " _Woody_ , Mr. Pickles. From _Toy Story_."

"Oh, right. Did we see that?"

Chuckie nods. "Tommy out back?"

"Oh, yep. Phil and Lil are already here."

"Alright."

Chuckie moves through the house and finds Phil first. Phil reaches into a cooler over the wall and tosses a coke to Chuckie. Hollywood decorations are all over the backyard. Boris and Minka show up soon after, dragging the birthday boy away from his friends. Didi's brother Ben calls to say he can't make it. Soon, the doorbell rings again. This time, Chas opens up. Stu is outside now, adding charcoal to the grill. He finds a teen girl in a plain white tank top with an open red blazer, daisy dukes, thigh high boots, and loaded down with necklaces and bracelets. She has ruby red lipstick and she's chewing gum.

"Dad's getting the gift from the car. Mom's not coming."

The blonde struts through the house and overlooks the backyard with distaste. Chuckie and Phil are hanging out at the wall; Tommy and Lil are dancing to low-playing music by the tree. She reaches into her blazer pocket and finds her mp3 player with headphones and a speaker. She struts up to the tree, blows a bubble in Lil's face and snatches the player.

"Angelica!" She gasps.

"Nice party, Pickles." She addresses her cousin. "Needs more music, though."

She takes out the headphones, selects Tag Team's _Whoomp!_ , and connects it to her speaker. The backyard can perfectly hear the music, and Phil starts the dancing. MC Lyte plays _Cold Rock a Party_ , and Slick Rick plays _La Di Da Di_. When Vengaboys' _We Like to Party_ hits the air, Angelica becomes the star of the party. She leads everyone, including some of the adults in dance.

 _The Venga bus is comin'_

 _And everybody's jumpin'_

 _New York through San Francisco_

 _And interstate free disco_

 _The wheels of steel are turnin'_

 _And traffic lights are burnin'_

 _So if you like to party_

 _Get on and move your body_

 _The Venga bus is comin'_

"Food's ready!"

The adults gather on the two available picnic tables, while the five teenagers hang out by the wall. Tommy doesn't have any friends aside from Chuckie, Phil and Lil. Angelica's only here because they're related, and she's told him as such. After the food, they play a couple rounds of cornhole, and then the birthday boy opens his gifts. Stu brings out a designated Birthday Throne. His maternal grandparents Boris and Minka gave him a nice watch – which he immediately places on his wrist and winds. Grandpa Lou bought him a temporary tattoo set, which starts an argument with Didi. Phil (plus Betty's name) bought him radioactive sour candies. Lil (plus Howard's name) bought him a coupon for guitar lessons. Stu gave him a new miniature screwdriver, which Tommy thinks is 'the coolest'. Chuckie (plus Chas's name) bought him a personalized Reptar shirt.

"Whoa! I'd so wear this right now if this was a shirt I could wear in the Matrix. Where'd you get this?"

Chuckie shrugs. "A place."

Didi handed him an envelope with a few gift cards inside, urging him to enjoy his birthday with his friends. Drew gave him a sloppily wrapped box with a wrinkled blue shirt inside. It's obvious he hadn't put much thought into the gift. The remaining gift on the table is from Angelica. He eyes it suspiciously, but Angelica just rolls her eyes at the expected tactic. He finally holds his breath and opens the box – to discover a monogrammed leather rucksack.

"Whoa, what's the catch?"

"The catch is now you dump the Dummi Bear bag. I _cannot_ be seen with you in public when you're wearing that embarrassment."

"Thanks, Angelica."

Soon enough, the party ends. Boris and Minka leave first, following by Chas and Chuckie, and Drew and Angelica. The neighbors stick around to help clean up. Around six o'clock, the residents of the house wait for Tommy to change his clothes. He dresses up, nearly in a suit. As does Stu. Stu's boss, Mr. Mucklehoney, had decided to give a dinner plan – with Tommy as the guest of honor. They drive to a nice eatery.

Mr. Mucklehoney is not only a toy manufacturer, but also owner of one of the finest restaurants in town: Chez Ennui. Mucklehoney brings along his daughter Tiffany, but she easily does not want to be there. When the conversation strays from the kids and moves onto the toy line, the teens sneak away. They convene in the back room.

"How old are you?"

"Oh, um, fourteen."

She nods. "I'm nineteen. Two more years of this, and I can finally go see London. Dad promised."

"That's cool." Tommy smiles. "I've never been out of Yucaipa."

She laughs. "Seriously? Not even family vacations?"

"No. My dad's in the toy business. Mom works a secretary job, and she's too scared to ask for time off. Plus Grandpa's got his repair shop. I'm pretty sure he wants to retire soon, though."

"Huh. No kidding. Soon as I hit twenty-one, I plan on buying a moped and heading out to the University of York. It's in Heslington. I'll be in a band by senior year, and become one of the most famous alumni."

Tommy is flabbergasted. "Wow. I don't even know what classes I'm taking in high school. You've got _everything_ planned out."

Tiffany sighs. "Yeah. It's my dream. For now, I go to meetings. I baby-sit and do what's best for the company. I bring in more clients and convince the ones we've got to stay. I guess we should get back to the meal."

"I guess."

Tommy and Tiffany return to the meal, in time for dessert. Stu has a few of his toy ideas down to the main man as he pays for their meal, and they leave.

 **That chapter was based off of** _ **Tommy and the Great White Thing, Tommy's First Birthday, Barbeque Story, Waiter, There's a Baby in My Soup.**_ **Tiffany, in the original, was Tommy's cancelled babysitter. Please review.**


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